Nuggets of God's Wisdomhttps://ascendinworship.wordpress.com
God's Wisdom is more precious than gold. This blog helps readers discover God's way versus the world one "nugget" at a timeWed, 25 Jul 2018 12:41:57 +0000enhourly1http://wordpress.com/https://secure.gravatar.com/blavatar/0b8ffad4d7467ef2d868dae665710cef?s=96&d=https%3A%2F%2Fs0.wp.com%2Fi%2Fbuttonw-com.pngNuggets of God's Wisdomhttps://ascendinworship.wordpress.com
PRAYER: I Love You, O LORD, My Strengthhttps://ascendinworship.wordpress.com/2018/07/25/prayer-i-love-you-o-lord-my-strength/
https://ascendinworship.wordpress.com/2018/07/25/prayer-i-love-you-o-lord-my-strength/#respondWed, 25 Jul 2018 12:41:41 +0000http://ascendinworship.wordpress.com/?p=2443Continue reading →]]>I love You, oh Lord my Strength for that is what You are. There is no other strength besides or beyond Yours. You are my everything. You made us so we are not able to carry the burdens of the world. But then neither do we have to. We are not even supposed to. You are.

We keep looking for here to be heaven, but it’s just not and never will be. There is such a battle afoot here—such an onslaught and we miss our ability to understand if we don’t recognize the battle.

Holy, infinite One, You are with us in this and You are so far beyond it. None of that which shakes us to our core, shakes You at all for You are not surprised. Through it You reign and bring Your victory through Your victorious, conquering love. The enemy smashes and wreaks havoc and destruction. You cause eternal life to rise from it. This is Your goal. Life by Your, through You, in You and for You. This is success: a life turned to You recognizing Your Godhead and seeking to follow (never perfectly, but in abject humility, grateful for Your supremacy and constant leading. There is no other success. Every other striving fades.

You work through all things. All things. Your efforts never stop. No. You are not surprised at the enemy’s strategies. You simply turn these against Him eventually to bring Your victory, which is reconciliation with You, restoration and life into many hearts.

Love unstoppable. Love unconquerable. Love, which contains all dominion and uses this only for eternal good. Love ever-vigilant. Love always compassionate. Walking with us through the worst (because You Yourself have been there for love of us), and carrying us when necessary.

Reveal to me more of You today. Cause me by Your Spirit’s work not to miss Your voice. Lead me in the way You would have me go in spite of circumstances around me and for those I love. Reign in me. Ravage me with Your truth. Conquer me with realizations of Your awesome wonder and majesty. For these and these alone, buoy me up with resiliency for today. You ask me to stand firm and watch the deliverance You will bring. You promise to beat back the adversary’s advances and bury this enemy who pursues to destroy, beneath the same sea that You part for me and my family.

But I can only stand firm long enough to see Your victory with the unveiling of Your majesty before my eyes. With a vision of heaven’s throne room where You are at its center and the joy of all those who have gone before reverberating in unceasing worship through the atmosphere. You are where my help comes from. From You. You are where the only true purpose is found—uniting my heart to Yours. Your joy is my strength. Your confidence and unwavering resolve is the Rock upon which I stand. From here through eternity Your love does not fail.

This is one of Your most foundational promises. You say You love all beyond what I will ever grasp. I can and must rely on this. Your perspective, Lord. Your view. So much more than from here to natural death. Eternity. Reunion. With You where we will hunger and thirst no more for we will be finally, fully satiated in Your presence. Justice. Mercy. All because You are love unstoppable. All confidence is in You. Glorious and victorious. All hope is in You, holy Repairer of every breach, because You, too long for and work for this eternal, blissful reunion through all things. Yes, through all things.

I can do nothing without You. Keep my eyes on You. Keep my eyes on Your vision for our future. Help me guard my heart, mind and thoughts to keep them captive to Your heart and thoughts. Give me the help I need to lean on You. Lead on, blessed Shepherd who goes after every lost sheep. Lead on. You reign, and Your reign is glorious.

Elizabeth also posts brief devotions and prayers on Facebook on her page: Spiritual Armor and Ammo where you will find more posts of God’s truth and His way to help you stand strong against the battles of this life in which we all find ourselves.

Elizabeth is the Founder of Eagles Nest Foundation which provides spiritual support & encouragement to military and military families as well as those in physical and emotional battles (such as cancer, long-term illness) as well as those grieving a loss. For information email eaglesnestfoundation2007@gmail.comor visit www.eaglesnestfoundation.org

Elizabeth also posts brief devotions and prayers on Facebook on her page: Spiritual Armor and Ammo where you will find more posts of God’s truth and His way to help you stand strong against the battles of this life in which we all find ourselves.

Elizabeth is the Founder of Eagles Nest Foundation which provides spiritual support & encouragement to military and military families as well as those in physical and emotional battles (such as cancer, long-term illness) as well as those grieving a loss. For information email eaglesnestfoundation2007@gmail.comor visit www.eaglesnestfoundation.org

]]>https://ascendinworship.wordpress.com/2018/07/10/the-destination-is-in-you-lord/feed/0ascendinworshipP1010311Prayer for God to Restore Relationship with Him and One Anotherhttps://ascendinworship.wordpress.com/2018/04/08/prayer-for-god-to-restore-relationship-with-him-and-one-another/
https://ascendinworship.wordpress.com/2018/04/08/prayer-for-god-to-restore-relationship-with-him-and-one-another/#respondSun, 08 Apr 2018 15:43:04 +0000http://ascendinworship.wordpress.com/?p=2434Continue reading →]]>To You, O God, I come, and lift every thought to You in praise. By choice I leave behind every lesser thought, exulting fully and completely in the essence of Who You are. There is no worry before You because gazing at Your magnificence comes the realization, there is no need. There is no need to do anything except focus on You. All, all, all things are In Your hands. This means under Your dominion, which means in Your control.

If there is something to be done, You will tell me to do it. You are not unaware of circumstances. You are always aware. You are ever-vigilant and about the restoring work in our heart, minds and spirits, even in that which looks like destruction and devastation. Yes, You allow the adversary to roam, but You are the power. In You is victory and most of the time that victory is greater than we can grasp.

Holy One, let me catch a glimpse of Your Majesty. Though I seek to gaze at You and know You more ongoing, You are so supreme and awe-some, to really see You would be to much for me. So just a glimpse, Lord. The broader view that You know is right for me right now.

At creation, You brought Your order. You put every piece in place You knew and wanted to be. No less with our lives.

Beyond our full, true comprehension, how much higher and greater You are than we. Beyond us the magnitude of Your plan because we really cannot grasp Your love. We are so stuck in our limited understanding of it and the lower levels of love’s expression, where we spend the majority of our time and where we place our focus. Lord, in comparison to You and the true expanse of Your love and redeeming, restoring purpose, it is as though we are crawling on the ground still with our noses in the dust.

We need You to elevate our view and are at Your mercy to do this oh-so-gradually and gently as an outcome of your unstoppable, unceasing flow of grace.

It is to You as mercy that we come to You today. You are. You know. Grand Restorer. Your priority is relationship with You. To restore what has been broken. And then with each other.

Lord, it is the 8th day of Easter. Eight. We begin anew, a new way a new cycle. What the adversary has meant for evil, You transform. You turn the adversary’s strategies on their head. Because though he is supernatural and can affect us, You are Supreme.

Holy One, on this 8th day of the Feast of Your glorious Resurrection, where as the firstborn You entered through the door of eternal life, which You opened, we have prayerfully in recent years begun to celebrate and thus contemplate Your mercy. This stream of restoring, redeeming love, which flows out ongoing from who You are.

Today, we lay all brokenness in our lives and relationships at Your feet and with eyes only for You and on You, we ask for Your redemption. You are Redeemer. Redeem what has been broken. Restore what has been damaged. Put back into order that which has been muddied, sullied and put out of order by our fallible humanness.

This is Your heart for this is Your essence. You do not fail. Divine Mercy, Who is unfathomable love, continue Your restoration of us to You and all of us together the way You have always desired because You are mercy and cannot help Yourself. We pray forward Your will of love. We are is anything any of us need to do, nudge us firmly to do it, so we know with certainty this is Your next step in this moment.

If there is any way we are to have courage, let us know. If there are places we are holding onto resentment and unforgiveness, melt these in our hearts so we can be a forgiving, renewing people.

Reveal what is hidden. Break the adversary’s hold on brokenness through long-held misunderstands, confusion and assumptions with Your breakthrough. Dissolve discouragement off Your people and give them steps to move toward one another in surprising ways instead of away.

Have mercy on us, O God. Be the mercy. Through each of us and all of us together. You are magnificent. You are the hope. Love.

Breakthrough and keep on breaking through, that love for You and for each other would come forth in our lives and relationships today for our deep inner healing and for Your glory.

Elizabeth also posts brief devotions and prayers on Facebook on her page: Spiritual Armor and Ammo where you will find more posts of God’s truth and His way to help you stand strong against the battles of this life in which we all find ourselves.

Elizabeth is the Founder of Eagles Nest Foundation which provides spiritual support & encouragement to military and military families as well as those in physical and emotional battles (such as cancer, long-term illness) as well as those grieving a loss. For information email eaglesnestfoundation2007@gmail.comor visit www.eaglesnestfoundation.org

As shared in a recent post, for 3 months in 2017, the Lord had me sit intensely in prayer with Him, listen, and write out a book which had been on my mind and heart since early 2006. Finally, finally, He was giving me the words to express for you what I believed He had been showing me about Himself and worship. It was and is for military to gain more situational awareness about the invisible, supernatural spiritual battle ongoing around us at all times, but it is also for you–because all of us find ourselves immersed in this spiritual battle. TRUTH: Spiritual Manual for Battle has been published and is available on amazon.com. However, He has also laid on my heart to publish periodic excerpts here, so you can begin to read a bit (if you so desire). This post starts the process. PLEASE REMEMBER and respect, that this material is under copyright and is not for use or reproduction in whole or in part in any way without permission. Email address for contact is at the end of the post.

Let’s begin with prayer: LORD GOD, Most High Ruler over all. You desire to be known. And You desire us to understand the principles by which You operate, so that even in the midst of life’s worst, we can experience thriving in You and because of You. Guide us now. Guide each reader. Bring the ones for whom this excerpt is for and speak to them interiorly what information is specifically for each one and move in them to recognize what they are to do with it. You are greater than we can imagine. Help us to gain a greater grasp of You and the over-riding, supernatural spiritual dimension which is around us at work at all times. Help us be cognizant of You as well as the other side and to learn to wield well the sword of Truth which helps us to stand strong in life’s battles and persevere until Your victory. Your ultimate victory is eternal. Your gift: unending life with You. A healing and destiny no evil can steal away. Lead us, Lord. Guide each one specifically into the more You have for Him or her. In Your mighty and precious name, Amen

The Table of Contents gives insight into some of the topics you can expect to see covered in this book:

Introduction

Destiny of Forever-Life

Invisible War Behind War

God-with-Us

What Does God Sound Like?

Pow-er of Worship

Supernatural Spiritual Atmospheric Shift

Worship Pray Listen Obey

As Already in Heaven

Getting Started

Inviting Him In

Creating a Space to Meet with God

How to Worshp

Thanksgiving Worship

Remembering Prayer

Throne Room Worship

Worship when Hearts Hurt

Walk-on-Water Worship

Warring Worship

Worship to Re-Take Lost Gound

Worship in the Waiting

Soaking-in-His-Presence, Surrendered Worship

Wordless Worship

No Separate Categories

Soul Care

True Purpose–Ambassadors for the King

A Word About Suffering

An Army of Worshippers

Excerpt 2 – “Introduction”

There is power (“pow”) with which God promises to respond when we choose to worship Him. Sounds unbelievable, but its true–based on irrefutable principles. That’s “pow” as in superhero, where you partner with God in your battles for His one-two, knowck-out punch for your adversaries (both visible and invisible.) Read on and learn what, why and how. If you dare, it could change your life in indescribably positive ways…forever.

What if I were to tell you that there is a wisdom greater and higher than what people have taught you that catapults you into a supernatural realm where true life and purpose are found? There God is waiting to provide His protection, provision and direction for your life now through forever. And it’s better than you think.

This booklet is specifically for deployed military and those who love them. It presents a perspective on your military mission and your life. Please take it or leave it. But before you decide, maybe just read it and see what you think. Throughout, you will come to understand why this Worship Toolkit (gift bag) has been sent to you.

Let’s begin with some background. When I finish, you may have decided I’m just crazy. But I beg you to consider, what if I’m not?

First, even though you don’t know me, I’ve been praying for you and holding you (and those who are important to you) in my heart since the terrorist attacks on NYC and the Pentagon on September 11, 2001. It doesn’t matter if you were in the military already then or not. It is irrelevant if you weren’t even born until later. I was and am praying for all those who serve and stand in the miltiary against enemies of all sorts for the rest of us. That includes you. I pray for you when you train, when you serve, if you deploy and after you come home. I pray God would bless you and lead you into all the good He has for you and those you love.

Though this little book is about God, I didn’t always believe in Him. Raised with faith as a child, I went through a ten-year period in my twenties when I wasn’t sure He existed. Life was dark and hopeless. I struggled with depression. I knew I was missing something, but I didn’t know what. One day I finally reached the point I wasn’t sure I wanted to keep living if this was all there was, so I turned toward where I thought God might be and uttered a mental request. “If you’re real, God, could you give me just a little mustard seed sized amount of faith? I’ve heard that’s all I need and it will grow from there. Help me to believe in you.” Well, He answered this prayer very specifically. Step by step it did go forward from there and suffice to say, I now have absolutely no doubts in the existence of God and fully acknowledge that the missing piece to life satisfaction for me indeed was relationship with God. But that is a story for another day. This story is about and for you.

Be forewarned, I’m going to share stuff about God, which includes concepts beyond what may seem comfortable and doesn’t seem to be talked about enough. But I have to be real with you!

One “a-little-out-there” topic is that as I continued to work to learn more about God (to “seek” Him) and He answered, I learned that He does speak to us and promises to teach us to understand Him if we ask and are diligent learners. In the years that followed, He taught me how to recognize His voice. He also encouraged me to practice having the courage to obey what He laid on my heart in interior wispers, especially when initially these requests didn’t seem to make sense.

Elizabeth also posts brief devotions and prayers on Facebook on her page: Spiritual Armor and Ammo where you will find more posts of God’s truth and His way to help you stand strong against the battles of this life in which we all find ourselves.

Elizabeth is the Founder of Eagles Nest Foundation which provides spiritual support & encouragement to military and military families as well as those in physical and emotional battles (such as cancer, long-term illness) as well as those grieving a loss. For information email eaglesnestfoundation2007@gmail.comor visit www.eaglesnestfoundation.org

Lord, You gave all for us though we have done nothing to deserve it. The place of Your suffering and sacrifice is the place of our redemption. We rejoice in Your cross and bow humbly in thanksgiving for the incomprehensible gift of Your love.

Today, Lord, is the day in 2018 that we commemorate Your death (JESUS!) for us. Lord, I can feel Your power and Your victory in the atmosphere. It is ominous and great. It is beyond all knowing, beyond our grasp, and at the same time palpable and there, real and extraordinary.

Lord God, You are King. It didn’t matter that they killed You–murdered You. You remained King. If possible, You increased in Your kingship over all because its as if progressively all things came even more under Your feet. You have always had dominion, but now after the cross, the super (not supreme) other powers knew. Now forever, the superpowers were dis-empowered.

It looked as if You were nothing. It looked as if You were the lie. But through this impossible event, where God appeared dead (killed!), You laughed and Your wisdom rose victorious as Life unstoppable because nothing can overcome Your power. Nothing can halt its forward flow. Nothing.

You have always been and always will be. You are over all and all things belong to You. Peope and angelic beings can choose to turn from You and You let them, but this does not diminish Your victory.

It is an aspect and a sign of Your unending, unfathomable, unbelievable, infinite, uncreated, always-has-been, always-will-be, unchanging way.

We are small and weak, and think we are so great. Yet, we are so afraid. We cower and draw back from that which seems to threaten us and those we love. And the threat is real, but for Your love.

Your love is the Source. Your love is the power over all in all through the universe and beyond it. You love is an inner-working, outward-radiating force, resplendent and undiminishable, which captivates those who encounter it so they want nothing else.

Your love is the creating force and the redeeming force , the healing force and the restoring force. This love is unity. It exists in the unity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit, for You are separate and together in love always. In union. You invite us in love to dwell in You as love, but not alone–with each other with, and in You.

Your love out-radiating from one furnace of love. Father for Son, Son for Father. And the power of the Holy Spirit within, spiraling unceasingly outward and captivating us, one by one.

We gaze at You, for You alone quiet our hearts, instill Your peace, pour out unspeakable joy, heal our wounds and draw us near, because through you, that which we have done, which has broekn relationship is forgiven. We see Your love for us.

Of this love we gradually become more aware, and we see Your love for them–for allof them. Each one. None mission. You see each one in the wholeness for which You designed him or her. You see their current broken state and weep with those who weep, and You know always and already how You want to draw them (each one) to Yourself now and forever.

You invite us–You call us–one by one as we get to know You, to enter the fight, to begin to rise the ranks (not of stature or position because you value us each equally but of increasing ability to see and know with Your overview). We become more purified progressively as we gaze at You. We understand Your kingdom more and its unestimable worth, and we want to be even more in alignment to You. You have become and are becoming still all we want and all we need.

Lord God, tonight is not just Good Friday, when we remember Your passion and death on the cross. This year, it is also the first night of Passover–the feast first given to prepare a people to receiv You and all You desired to bring, not just to them, but to all of us together.

Holy One, “once in a blue moon” is what people say when they are speaking of something rare. Tomorrow night 3/31/2018 is a Blue Moon. March 2018 (3/18) is one of those rare months when there are two full moons in one month.

Once in a blue moon. A night–a weekend–to remember You died for love of us, You were in the tomb and in hell for us, and then You rose.

Once in a blue mooon. Final day of the month of 3’s. 3 for Trinity. 3 for the day You rose and the possibility of Life again for all began in earnest. 3 for the third day in which we find ourselves.

There is such unprecedented worship and prayer rising for Thursday through Resurrection Sunday (even since Palm Sunday) and for Passover. Love rising in the little way we know how, knowing Your power as redeeming love is radiating out and pouring forth in a flood in response.

We are so faulty, but You died so we can come before You in prayer like this. We join the angels and saints who have gone before, who are already in heaven and we cry, Breakthrough, God.

Breakthrough. On this night, which is the expression of Your extreme love, breakthrough in hearts for restored relationship with You and with each other everywhere.

Breakthrough. Be seen. Be known. Bring the change which shifts a generation–many hearts at a time.

This is Your day. You made it. Season of love. Begun on Valentine’s this year to remind us of the extraordinary supremacy of Your love.

With You there are no coincidences or randomness. You are intentional and You have given some of us eyes to see.

The intercessors have been cryingout. The families and friends mourning.

Breakthrough. The enemy has been vanquished. Show it by release of an extraordinary amount of Your love.

Holy Spirit fire, whet appetites and sear hearts. Turn lives on their head and usher in transformation. It is Your time. It is Your season. Praying with You in one accord. Amen!

Elizabeth also posts brief devotions and prayers on Facebook on her page: Spiritual Armor and Ammo where you will find more posts of God’s truth and His way to help you stand strong against the battles of this life in which we all find ourselves.

Elizabeth is the Founder of Eagles Nest Foundation which provides spiritual support & encouragement to military and military families as well as those in physical and emotional battles (such as cancer, long-term illness) as well as those grieving a loss. For information email eaglesnestfoundation2007@gmail.com or visit www.eaglesnestfoundation.org

In February 2004 dear friends, Andrea O’Brien, Lori Duffy and Nicole Gee felt led to pray over me to hear new worship songs the Lord was releasing from heaven, which He wanted heard on the earth. The presence of the Holy Spirit was palpably strong as they prayed. I had composed some songs in the past–perhaps 20 or 25 over what was then my 45 years of life. However, beginning the morning after they prayed the volume of songs composed and manner in which they were composed accelerated markedly.

A few months later, the end of April 2004, while on a walk praying and listening for His new songs, I was talking to Him about how troops fighting the Global War on Terror needed a song. They needed to know there was an invisible spiritual battle afoot greater than they could see and to look to God to guide and lead them through it in order to be resilient and remain as resilient as possible. I asked the Lord to have someone compose such a song (thinking of the poetic beauty of “The Battle Hymn of the Republic”). About 15 minutes later as I was rounding a bend to head back up the hill to my parked car, I heard a melody with words running through my head: “We will fight for freedom. We will fight the war. Where enemies have vanished, they will be found. No more will they attack us, we stand up to fight. We will protect the nation, God is on our side. Stand up, stand up, stand up and fight.”

The following February in 2005, up at our children’s school, I was introduced to an alumni who was now a Marine about to be deployed for the first time to Iraq. I was asked if I would pray for him while deployed, because I was known as someone who prays. The response was overwhelmingly affirmative. Of course, I would pray. On the way back to my car, my eyes drifted to the school softball field and for the first and only time I did not see a softball field. With my eyes open, I saw a vision play out before me. It was a group of troops marching information in a desert. As I watched with my spiritual eyes (while my physical eyes were wide open), a canopy descended from heaven until it was hovering over them, moving as they moved. It covered them on all four sides like a tent, but only down to their knees, so although coveered, I could also still see them marching. While I saw this, the Holy Spirit spoke something like the following in an instant of full knowledge to my heart: “If you will get ‘Stand Up’ and some of the worship songs I have given you over there, I will be their covering, I will hem them in before and behind, I will be the banner over them and shine My light in the dark places, so the enemy is more easily found.” Then I saw a softball field before me. It was as it had always been, but I was forever changed. My life could never be the same. The Lord had given me an assignment, which could not be ignored.

It’s a wonderful story for another day, how the Lord led me day-by-day for a year to show me all the different ways He was not going to allow me to get the music produced, and then how He pointed me through a nudge to a friend through a magazine article to The Creation Lab in Turlock, California. There, for the past twelve years, Michael Everett has helped me to produce over 120 original worship songs (so far), plus “Stand Up” into an ultra-professional form, which I ship to military, military families and veterans around the world, the the non-profit the Lord had me found in 2007 called, Eagles Nest Foundation.

Along the way these 13 years since the vision, I’ve spent countless hours studying worship in Scripture. What is it? How do we do it? Why does God command it? How does He promise to respond when we choose to worship Him? And there are specific promises These concern what He works within us interiorly in response to our worship and what He does in the world around us as well.

As I talked to others, there seemed to be a lack of information which addressed this. Last May, the Lord made it clear it was His timing to write a book about it–a book which had been on my mind to write for a long time. I wanted it to be available to ship with the music, so that those who received it, knew what the music was for and how to employ it for the greater glory of God and greater spiritual wholeness within.

After 3 months of solid writing, Truth: Spiritual Manual for Battle was completed. The night I finished the first draft after 19 hours straight of working on it that particular day, when I laid down to finaly sleep the Lord gave me a picture. I saw the cover for the book in the distance and then it came speeding toward me closer and closer until I could see every detail He wanted. This was stunning! I’ve never had anything like that happen before!

The book was published the end of 2017, including a cover design by Amy Cole, which matched what the Lord had shown me that July night. However, several of the manuscript’s test readers, who were not military, let me know they thought the book was useful for any Christian looking to go deeper in God. They urged me to make the book available for sale. So….I’m pleased to announce, Truth: Spiritual Manual for Battle now available on amazon.com. For those who don’t know the Lord yet, it gives an overview of what is believed and why. For those who do, it reminds of some of the most basic tenets of our faith and deeper union with God.

Over at least the next year, I will begin sharing parts of the book in periodic blog posts.

May our Lord be glorified! And may He strengthen us for wahtever war in which we find ourselves. As we come to rest in Him in the midst of it, may He use us as His instruments to grow His kingdom, wherever we find ourselves. Worship His Majesty!

Elizabeth also posts brief devotions and prayers on Facebook on her page: Spiritual Armor and Ammo where you will find more posts of God’s truth and His way to help you stand strong against the battles of this life in which we all find ourselves.

Elizabeth is the Founder of Eagles Nest Foundation which provides spiritual support & encouragement to military and military families as well as those in physical and emotional battles (such as cancer, long-term illness) as well as those grieving a loss. For information email eaglesnestfoundation2007@gmail.com or visit www.eaglesnestfoundation.org

]]>https://ascendinworship.wordpress.com/2018/03/28/truth-spiritual-manual-for-battle/feed/2ascendinworshipTruth: Spiritual Manual for BattleLift Up Your Headshttps://ascendinworship.wordpress.com/2018/03/28/lift-up-your-heads/
https://ascendinworship.wordpress.com/2018/03/28/lift-up-your-heads/#commentsWed, 28 Mar 2018 17:14:24 +0000http://ascendinworship.wordpress.com/?p=2418Continue reading →]]>This is what is called a prophetic word. I hear it as if the words are being spoken into my mind and write it down as I “hear” it. Please always pray before and as you read. By definition I am human and imperfect. In addition, when the Holy Spirit “downloads” a word, it will either resonate with you or it will not and that’s okay. No one prophetic word is for every person. And this is my prayer for you: ”LORD, please lead each reader perfectly and cause them to receive and remember, only that which is from You for them. In Jesus’ name, Amen.” ~ Elizabeth

Lift up your heads My children. Lift up your heads. You are looking too low. You are looking for things of this world. That is not wrong, but it distracts from My higher things and discourages because you measure My activity by the wrong measures. Be assured. In all that you have laid before Me in prayer, I am at work. Steadily, progressively, I am providing all that is needed for My result. I am aware of your heart’s desires. Remember, I made you! I made you to love, to care and want what you perceive as best. Yet in your best intentions you remain children and as yet, immature in your view. And I love you as you are! And I am calling you to My more. Your measure of success is too small. Your measure of what’s important like the view of the ant. I love you in this. I love you massively, for you are My beloved children. And…I am calling you to increase your trust. Increase your reliance to Me. Your abandon. Delight yourself in Me and rejoice in the work I have set before you this day. All work is good and I am working through it. All work is large. There is no measure of one type of work being supreme over another. Do it as if doing it for Me (because you are!) Lift up your heads. Put your eyes firmly on Me. Meditate on Me and let Me write My essence on your hearts. I love them more than you do and I have not forgotten a single one. Do you not remember? I AM the Good Shepherd. I go after every lost sheep always. I do it My way in My timing. I am never late. I am working out My perfect plans which include all. Believe in Me! Rest in Me. Find your peace in Me even today—especially before you see results. REJOICE!

Elizabeth also posts brief devotions and prayers on Facebook on her page: Spiritual Armor and Ammo where you will find more posts of God’s truth and His way to help you stand strong against the battles of this life in which we all find ourselves.

Elizabeth is the Founder of Eagles Nest Foundation which provides spiritual support & encouragement to military and military families as well as those in physical and emotional battles (such as cancer, long-term illness) as well as those grieving a loss. For information email eaglesnestfoundation2007@gmail.com or visit www.eaglesnestfoundation.org

There is no other One who is love. You made us–all of us–in Your image and You desire to use us as Your Body through whom You flow to touch the world from here through eternity. Here will never be the extraordinary perfect goodness of heaven. Here there will always be tears. Yet You allow us to be put in position to be present to one another as conduits of Your goodness and care in the most unfortunate circumstances. Thank You, Lord. We are awe-filled and grateful. Thank You. Use us more. In Your might, precious name, Amen

It has been a hard week for so many with the disaster of Hurricane Harvey. Much has already been written. Yet, to me not enough can be said about our true humanity, which has been witnessed in the response to the disaster. The reality is that the majority does not hate, criticize, demean and bring harm, but reaches out with compassion, love, prayer and real tangible help. This is what we have in common. This is what unites instead of dividing. We have no desire to sacrifice each other, but unbidden offer the sacrifice of self.

This is the America I have known since birth and of which I am blessed to be a part. But it is not just America–it is humanity at its core–it is international and universal. Yes, we can choose to hate, but that is not what feeds us. We were made by God to find fulfillment when we offer ourselves to each other with care in that moment and in that way which it is most needed. When we give. Not when we take.

My husband always says that news is the exception not the norm. Consider the word, “news”. It word means that which is “new” (out of the ordinary and unusual). Compassion and caring for one another as a normal part of our co-existence–that is what 99 percent of us choose to do every day. It’s not talked about. It remains mostly unpublicized. It doesn’t have to be because it’s not the rare exception, which needs to be given notice. It’s simply who we are.

Oh, I am not exalting us as people because we each remain so imperfect! Often we hurt each other out of our own hurt without even intending it! But I believe at our core 99% want what is good and right and best for others and that we do aim to take others into consideration. Houston’s disaster and the people’s response reminded us.

None of us can save the world. Our culture’s concept of hero has been skewed. A hero is not someone with greater physical prowess or who happens for the moment to have attained some measure of celebrity or notoriety. A hero is someone who in the moment wherever they are steps into the work which is before them which puts them at risk for the good of others and sometimes the world. Heroes exist unseen doing unrecognized work more than they are visible.

If we each do our seemingly tiny, often seemingly insignificant part, God weaves together His tapestry through it of His love reaching through us His way to touch the world, usher in His compassion, begin His healing, stop injustice, come against evil and administer kindness. In 2011 the Lord had me compose and record a song about this in honor of the 10th anniversary of the 2001 terror attacks. I had asked Him for His message 10 years later. It was the message of our standing up each to do our part helping each other in the face of horror and terrible circumstances. Of being present to one another in the seemingly ordinary every day as well as in the seemingly large. Seen in this light, there are so many more heroes in this world than villains.

Remember, you make a difference and it’s good! May God continue to work through us all….May God bless you!

NUGGETS OF GOD’s WISDOM

God’s Wisdom is more precious than gold.

This blog by Elizabeth Fulgaro helps readers discover God’s way versus the world’s one “nugget” at a time. http://www.ascendinworship.wordpress.comElizabeth Fulgaro is a wife, mother, writer, inspirational speaker, worship leader, composer, singer & recording artist. She is also a Certified Financial Planner, Accredited Financial Counselor and Financial Fitness Coach with a heart for helping people understand their money and steward it God’s way.

For more information on books, worship albums, Bible studies and teachings written by Elizabeth Fulgaro please visit www.elizabethfulgaro.com . Music can be purchased and audio clips heard at http://www.cdbaby.com/Artist/ElizabethFulgaro and on itunes.

Elizabeth also posts brief devotions and prayers on Facebook on her page: Spiritual Armor and Ammo where you will find more posts of God’s truth and His way to help you stand strong against the battles of this life in which we all find ourselves.

Elizabeth is the Founder of Eagles Nest Foundation, a 501(c)3 non-profit which provides spiritual support & encouragement to military and military families as well as those in physical and emotional battles (such as cancer, long-term illness) as well as those grieving a loss.

]]>https://ascendinworship.wordpress.com/2017/09/02/recognizing-the-good/feed/0ascendinworshipMemorial Day Is To Rememberhttps://ascendinworship.wordpress.com/2017/05/26/memorial-day-is-to-remember/
https://ascendinworship.wordpress.com/2017/05/26/memorial-day-is-to-remember/#respondFri, 26 May 2017 23:35:08 +0000http://ascendinworship.wordpress.com/?p=2369Continue reading →]]>

Lord, thank You for each of those who has served. We sorrow for those who have fallen. We honor their sacrifice. We remember their names and the lives they left behind in our service. Please continue to comfort and help all those that have loved them. In Your name, Amen.

In the United States of America since 1868 the final Monday in May is called “Memorial Day”. It is not the first weekend of summer. Summer solstice is June 21st. The definition of the word, “memorial”, should give us our direction. Appearing in any other context we would have no doubt. We would know a day of memorial is a day to remember.

This is not a day of random remembrance. It is a day created nationally after the Civil War to honor those who have fallen. In the cause of attaining and preserving freedom through every generation there have been those who have lost their lives–have given their lives–for the sake of all of us.

Fathom this for a moment. Their lives ended so that yours can continue in the relaxed, easy manner which you have come to expect. For most of us in the United States, it has never crossed our minds that to live in the fear we might someday be overrun by a foreign power is even a possibility. This is no accident. It is because of those who serve–who do the work of holding the line so that our boundaries remain secure.

Did you worry about whether or not your home would be there when you returned from shopping or work or visiting family? Were you concerned about snipers, IED’s in your streets or suicide bombers in your driveway or at the market? True–with terrorism one can never be completely sure where they will strike next. However, for the most part, for most of us, we live unconcerned because the risk is so small. This is because of those who serve and have served.

Memorial Day is a memorial. It is a remembrance–not to all who have served, but a memorial. Think about it. A memorial is to honor and remember those who have died. This is no different. Memorial Day is to honor and remember those who died serving us–they died for us. They died on our behalf.

How could we forget? How could we just focus on potentially three days with no work or getting the boat into the lake, camping or backyard barbecues?

We need to say thank you. We need to remember. We need to take the time to learn their names–to learn who they were. They were more than Sailors, Marines, Coasties, Soldiers and Airmen. They were men and women who had hoped they had years in front of them to pursue their dreams. They were brothers, mothers, husbands, daughters, fathers, sons, and sisters. They were beloved by family, friends and colleagues. They were essential parts of their communities both at home and within the units where they served.

Memorial Day. Memory. Remember. Memorialize. Never forget.

There has always been a price paid for freedom.

Say a prayer for those who have loved them and for whom every day is now Memorial Day. Say the names of the ones no longer with us who have left holes in their lives which will remain until reunion in heaven. Remember them. Make it a beautiful, reflective, true MEMORIAL Day this year and always. They deserve our honor and remembrance.

NOTE: in 2007, I composed and recorded a worship song for those who grieve dedicated to families and loved ones of the fallen. In 2011 it was uploaded to youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SI45j-eR2Wc with a simple slide show of powerful photos of several warriors who gave all. The photos were supplied by their families. The comment section of this song is to honor as many of those who have given their lives in war as possible. Please submit comments to be added including names and pertinent information using some of the comments already there as examples. One of the ways we can honor the fallen most is by remembering their names…This is one small way to help do just that. God–bless the families and those who have loved our fallen.

#honorthefallenmemorialday #memorialday #neverforget

NUGGETS OF GOD’s WISDOM

God’s Wisdom is more precious than gold.

This blog by Elizabeth Fulgaro helps readers discover God’s way versus the world’s one “nugget” at a time. http://www.ascendinworship.wordpress.comElizabeth Fulgaro is a wife, mother, writer, inspirational speaker, worship leader, composer, singer & recording artist. She is also a Certified Financial Planner, Accredited Financial Counselor and financial coach with a heart for helping people understand their money and steward it God’s way.

For more information on books, worship albums, Bible studies and teachings written by Elizabeth Fulgaro please visit www.elizabethfulgaro.com . Music can be purchased and audio clips heard at http://www.cdbaby.com/Artist/ElizabethFulgaro and on itunes.

Elizabeth also posts brief devotions and prayers on Facebook on her page: Spiritual Armor and Ammo where you will find more posts of God’s truth and His way to help you stand strong against the battles of this life in which we all find ourselves.

Elizabeth is the Founder of Eagles Nest Foundation, a 501(c)3 non-profit which provides spiritual support & encouragement to military and military families as well as those in physical and emotional battles (such as cancer, long-term illness) as well as those grieving a loss.

Lord, You are my hope and my song. Through all things You are there working out Your good, eternal purposes and my trust remains in You. You are unstoppable. Your plan never fails. Thank You for Your great, great love for each one. In Your blessed name, I pray. Amen

Yesterday was a watershed day for us. For the first time in over a year there was a relief from some of the difficult challenges which we have faced. Up until then it has seemed as each new thing or worsening thing has just piled up on what was already there. Yes, I do have thyroid cancer again—or perhaps still. (The semantics here are unimportant.) The cancer simply is and we have been in the process since Monday of working with professionals to design and move forward with the best course of action. However, it has been more a bit more complicated than that because for seemingly unrelated symptoms right before Christmas an abdomen CT scan was also ordered and its results were also given to us on Monday. There were two unexpected items which showed up on the scan for which additional scans were recommended. One could indicate the thyroid cancer has spread to my lungs. The other could indicate an additional whole new cancer in another area of the body.

Reports like this when initially received tend to temporarily make it hard to breathe. We have to pause and take stock, remember nothing is a surprise to God and decide how to move forward.

For me the only option is to trust in God. I had my years when I didn’t believe in God and thought I had to figure it all out myself. To live without faith is to live dependent on the hope of random luck in the midst of unavoidable injustice and unfairness. It is to live in a hope which is based on nothing solid and which eventually fails.

My husband and I have been in a fierce and unrelenting storm since Christmas 2015. Some of what we have experienced includes, lies, manipulation and betrayal from someone very close to us and loved by us who has had an extreme change in personal ethics and character, my father’s death, my mother’s sudden serious health challenges, our home broken into (door literally broken down) and robbed. Simple things like having to replace a refrigerator and dishwasher were not simple. Once purchased, they took a solid month and lots of phone calls to get installed. Then between Thanksgiving week and Christmas came the trifecta, Revelation of the much greater extent of the lies and degree to which we had been used by the person we had trusted (which hurt the most), my husband was let go unexpectedly from his job of 11 years and I was told that my annual ultrasound showed abnormal lymph nodes, meaning a likely resurgence of thyroid cancer.

Through all of this God has been with us. We have been very aware of His provision and care.

There can be a mistaken notion that the existence and presence of God guarantees heaven on earth, but that simply isn’t true. Jesus is our example. He is the Way, Truth and Life and no other. Jesus in His singular pursuit of Father’s will ended up persecuted, tortured, mocked and executed. (And He was God’s only begotten Son!) As believers, we have an obligation to consider our expectations and make sure they are in alignment with the will of God.

I would like to believe in a God who gives me everything I want when I think I need it and Who protects me from everything which is uncomfortable and unpleasant. It’s nice to have these wishes, but they are not based on the reality in which we find ourselves. This is not how God, who is fully and always fathomless, infinite Love, created reality to be.

There will be storms. There will be an end for each of us to these temporary temporal lives. Through it all the Lord cries to our hearts, “Peace. Be still. Do not be afraid.”

Thus in spite of such a hard year, we have been crushed, but He has been our resiliency. By an understanding of who He is, what He promises and the divine, eternal purpose He is working through all things, we have been strengthened to stay upright and keep moving forward one step at a time into whatever is His will for us. He has been and remains our only solid ground.

This is a critical piece of the understanding needed. To trust God is not to pretend He will answer prayers our way or that we suddenly will experience only what we perceive as good, just and right from here to eternity.

We are following Jesus. Our Master All-Good Shepherd has gone before us to show the Way. Now He leads us from where we are to the brink where He Himself will serve as our bridge from all that has been into all which will be. There and only there will all tears be washed away (by God the Father Himself). For now we follow.

The LORD is my shepherd, I lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths for his name’s sake. Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever. (Psalm 23)

He will lead us to walk our own paths of pain through dark valleys, carrying our own unique crosses for here is not the perfection of heaven. As the enemy tries to crush, kill and destroy, the Lord uses all this to draw us closer to Himself, to prune us to be more like Him and more fruitful for Him, to restore and heal us from all that wounds us, equip us to be better ambassadors for His kingdom, and flow through us (when we let Him) to reveal Himself to others for His heart is for them to be with Him forever as well as us. This is His focus. This is His vision—to use all things in this fallen realm through which to do His work of revealing the reality of who He is, what Christ did and the gift of the Spirit now so that others can choose to be in His flock and be led home as well. The Lord is always and through all things about this work.

We can choose to come to rest in His promises from here to eternity (which is to be with us and use us through hard things, not to keep us from these) and walk through them sensing His presence, comfort, provision and work through them, or we can choose worry, fear and despair. It does require a choice just as choosing to believe in Him so we can become His adopted children eligible for His eternal inheritance requires a choice. The choice is not one-time. It is ongoing. The choice is not easy. It would often seem nice if we didn’t have to choose and all could simply be easy and lovely. Again—that’s not how it is.

Thus my husband and I though feeling very pressed down upon by all that has been going on have not been destroyed by it. We understand all this is part of this life. Our prayer has been and remains that the Lord would work His immeasurable good through it, similar to what He did through Jesus’ obedience and submission to the difficulties of His earthly life which eventually led to a horrific death on the cross: Lord, not our will but Yours. Lord, we trust in You and that You will enable us to get through whatever comes. Use us wherever this takes us to expand Your kingdom. Flow through us that people would encounter You more. Do not let one hardship go to waste. We offer these to you to use as is best for the coming to faith and deepening of faith of all the world. None of this is by our strength or goodness, but by Yours. Use us as Your vessels and we know and acknowledge eventually our work and offering will be done here and You will call us home. (Bliss!)

Yet, in the midst of the ongoing storm, He has given us a gift. Yes, I have thyroid cancer again. Yes, it may have spread and that needs to be evaluated. It should be treatable. (Praise You and thank You, Lord.) Yesterday, we received two gifts which instead of causing us to have to choose faith even though we were being pressed down upon more, lifted some of the weighty happenings in our lives. One day after being told I need to be prepared to consult Stanford or UCSF to get an interdisciplinary team together to help me deal with a potentially complex cancer situation, we were informed that the likelihood of a second, different cancer is remote. In addition, my husband was offered a job. God willing, he will get the firm offer sometime this afternoon and be able to wait to begin until after my surgery.

God continues to bless us. He has been with us through the fierce storm of the past year. This storm in many regards is not over—including my pending cancer surgery in late February and further diagnosis, and in regards to the one we love who for now has forgotten who he is. But how thankful we are for relief of a bit of the pressure. Though we have been praising and worshiping Him throughout, it does make it easier to dance before His throne. We are grateful

Thank you to each of you who have prayed for us. We appreciate you beyond words for He is about the business of answering and doing so gloriously. Please continue to partner with us in prayer as we will also partner with you in your journey that through ALL things, He will be made known and visible in the way He knows is best and that daily beyond what we can see He will cause there to be eternal good effect in someone’s life because we chose to walk the path before us trusting Him. To our Lord be ALL glory!

Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight. (Prov. 3:5-6)

The End

NUGGETS OF GOD’s WISDOM

God’s Wisdom is more precious than gold.This blog by Elizabeth Fulgaro helps readers discover God’s way versus the world’s one “nugget” at a time. http://www.ascendinworship.wordpress.comElizabeth Fulgaro is a wife, mother, writer, inspirational speaker, worship leader, composer, singer & recording artist. She is also a Certified Financial Planner, Accredited Financial Counselor and financial coach with a heart for helping people understand their money and steward it God’s way.

For more information on books, worship albums, Bible studies and teachings written by Elizabeth Fulgaro please visit www.elizabethfulgaro.com . Music can be purchased and audio clips heard at http://www.cdbaby.com/Artist/ElizabethFulgaro and on itunes.

Elizabeth also posts brief devotions and prayers on Facebook on her page: Spiritual Armor and Ammo where you will find more posts of God’s truth and His way to help you stand strong against the battles of this life in which we all find ourselves.

Elizabeth is the Founder of Eagles Nest Foundation, a 501(c)3 non-profit which provides spiritual support & encouragement to military and military families as well as those in physical and emotional battles (such as cancer, long-term illness) as well as those grieving a loss.